Offerings from Wanborough Roman
temple

Iron Age, late 1st century BC to 4th century
ADFound at Wanborough, Surrey,
England

Villains of the Wanborough Roman
temple

The destruction of the Romano-Celtic temple at
Wanborough in Surrey is one of the saddest stories in British
archaeology.

The site was
discovered in 1983 by two metal detectorists, who reported their
finds to Guildford Museum. Unfortunately, the location became
public and thieves looted the site, digging deep holes and even
destroying parts of an ancient hedgerow in their quest for
treasure.

Archaeologists
did manage to recover some objects, but only a small part of the
orginal assemblage was traced. What remains includes offerings of
over 1000 Iron Age and Roman coins, one of the most important
assemblages of coins of this age from southern Britian. A headdress
and sceptre handles were also recovered. These were probably used
by a priest during
rituals.

Subsequent
excavations have shown that there were in fact two temples on the
site. A circular temple had been built during the late first
century BC site. This was replaced in the second century AD by a
square temple.